SUV driver dead, three children rushed to hospital in Columbia school bus accident

Twenty-two children and a bus driver are being evaluated by Columbia healthcare personnel after an SUV collided with a Two Mile Prairie school bus. The driver of the SUV identified as Lawrence W. Ferguson of Auxvasse was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident occurred on the students' way home from summer school Thursday, between Judy School Road and Mexican Gravel Road.

"We're working now on getting the students evaluated by healthcare personnel and getting them reunited with their families," Columbia Public Schools' Community Relations Director Michelle Baumstark said.

Columbia ambulances transported three of the children and the bus driver from the scene of the incident. Boone County Fire District Captain Martina Pounds says the status of the driver and injured children is currently unavailable.

"The remaining 19 (children) were put on another bus, taken to Two Mile Elementary School, and from there, all 19 went to the hospital for further evaluation," Pounds said.

Pounds says the Boone County Sheriff's Department is working with traffic control to keep the scene of the accident on Route Z completely blocked off from traffic. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is currently investigating the incident and the cause of the collision is still unknown.